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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: drill · wound · saw · hand · club · cold · season · bat

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. drill — a practice
  4. saw — the tool
  5. drill — army training
  6. club — for dancing
  7. cold — an illness
  8. season — in sport
  9. bat — the animal
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. club — a group
  14. drill — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. hand — help
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. season — of the year
  21. club — for golf
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com